Hello again, everyone! This morning, the Church News has reported that the Quetzeltenango Guatemala Temple is the latest to transition to phase 3, offering all living and proxy ordinances in priority order, with appropriate protocols and procedures in place to keep all Church members safe. With this latest development, the Church has almost 93% of its' 168 temples open in phase 3.
With this weekend marking the dedication of the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, and next weekend marking the dedication of the Pocatello Idaho Temple, the Church will then have 170 operating temples by mid-November, 158 of which will be open in phase 3, as a result of which the percentage of temples open in phase 3 by mid-November will then remain steady at 93%.
The Church also noted that the Medford Oregon Temple, which had been projected to move into phase 3 in August of this year, has not yet moved into that phase, but will do so at a later time when COVID-19 conditiions allow that to occur. Aside from these updates, there have not been any other changes reported. so the latest data, which is also featured in the temple reopening status tracker and in the Church's official Newsroom release, now shows the status of temple reopenings as follows:
9 remain closed for major renovations,, all but 2 of which (Hong Kong China and Tokyo Japan) have been granted phase 3 designation, which allows the members residing in those other 6 temple districts to schedule living and proxy ordinances at the temples cloesest to them that are also in phase 3); 3 remain paused in their reopenings (with 2 that were in phase 3 and 1 that was in phase 2 at the time their pauses went into effect); just 2 remain in phase 1; 3 in phase 2; 4 in phase 2-B; and the remaining 147 in phase 3.
I continue to find it very humbling to witness the inspired and careful way the Brethren have directed the weekly efforts to reopen temples around the world. Modern technology has allowed the apostles to more frequently check in with the area presidencies for the areas in which they each have oversight, and since those conversations are able to carry on weekly, no matter where any of them are geographically, the Church has been very smart in evaluating and assessing things and responding accordingly.
I also keep going back to what President Nelson described as he came to the painful decision that all temples should be closed for the time being. He noted that he agonized over what he would say to them and that he was "going to see them soon"(which to me does not sound like he's talking about when his ministry as prophet ends and he is called home to help direct the work from the other side of the veil). I can understand his feelings on some level: it's a huge, unprecedented thing for the Church to have closed all temples worldwide for a significant duration of time.
At the same time, unprecedented times (during a global pandemic of a highly-transmissible disease) call for unprecedented measures, and I for one do not find it accidental in any respect that the Church is dealing with the effects of a global pandemic at a time when the prophet representing the Lord to the Church is a former medical physician and surgeon. I think on that level, President Nelson's fellow prophets would be very understanding of what had to be done. I also think that their biggest question for him would be: "Did you do what the Lord instructed you to do on the matter?" And when he answered in the affirmative, that would be the only thing they'd be concerned about.
It's something I've thought about a lot and wanted to put into words now. It's natural that unprecedented times requiring unprecedented measures would cause worry for the Lord's prophet, but my personal opinion is that he didn't need to worry on that count. As I've previously mentioned, two weeks ago today, no temple reopening updates were provided. With such updates provided anew the last couple of weeks, I think that most weeks will see updates on that going forward, especially as COVID-19 becomes less of an issue worldwide, but that there could be a few weeks where no updates are announced as things hold steady.
It's also worth noting that I anticipate that the Church could potentially begin to transition temples to phase 4 either just prior to Christmas 2021 and New Years' Day 2022 or as 2022 progresses. I will be sure to monitor all of that and bring you word of those developments as I become aware thereof. I'd be remiss if I also didn't note that it seems more likely than not that opening arrangements for the Yigo Guam and Quito Ecuador temples could be coming down the pike within the next week or two, as could the reopening arrangements for the Tokyo Japan and Hamilton New Zealand Temples.
Right now, the Church only has 2 temples currently scheduled for a groundbreaking: Pago Pago American Samoa (on Saturday October 30), and Bacolod Philippines (on Saturday December 11). Right now, no other temple groundbreakings have been scheduled. I have been hoping that for some temples, it might be psosible to hold a private groundbreaking for the temple before publicly releasing the video and photographs verifying that those groundbreakings took place on those dates.
Either way, I am anticipating that a maximum of 9 temples within the United States will have groundbreakings occur soon (whether or not they are announced in advance), along with a maximum of 8 other temples outside the United States. And if at least 10 of those 17 are able to have a groundbreaking by the end of this year, temple groundbreakings in 2021 will exceed the 21 that occurred last year.
I will monitor all of those updates and will do my best to bring you word of any developments as I become aware thereof.In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time.
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